VZCZCXRO8918
PP RUEHDE
DE RUEHYN #1116/01 1090808
ZNR UUUUU ZZH (CCY PARA MARKINGS ADDED - ADBD3349)
P 190808Z APR 06
FM AMEMBASSY SANAA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 3646
INFO RUEHZM/GULF COOPERATION COUNCIL COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 SANAA 001116 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
SIPDIS 
 
C O R R E C T E D  C O P Y - PARAS MARKED 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL KDEM KWMN YM
SUBJECT: "THE BLEEDING MUST STOP": FIRST FEMALE 
PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE DISCUSSES CAMPAIGN WITH AMBASSADOR 
 
REF: 2005 SANAA 3558 
 
SANAA 00001116  001.3 OF 002 
 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary.  On April 12, Ambassador met with Sumaya Raja, 
Yemen's first female presidential candidate (reftel).  Raja 
explained that she was running as an independent candidate on 
an anti-corruption platform.  She hopes to generate support 
from alienated groups, especially young voters.  Ambassador 
stressed that the U.S. Government would not get involved in 
the politics, but would watch to see if the elections were 
free and fair.  Raja voiced her concerns about election 
preparations, showing Ambassador evidence that election 
officials registered children to vote.  End Summary. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
"THE BLEEDING MUST STOP": Anti-Corruption Platform 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
¶2. (SBU) Raja told Ambassador during a meeting at his residence 
that she was running for president because she wanted to 
fight corruption.  She believes that corruption has increased 
over the last five years, saying "the bleeding has to stop." 
Emphasizing that she "intends to win," Raja said that even if 
she lost, she would be satisfied if her campaign encouraged 
public dialogue on corruption and accountability. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Raja, who is self-financing her campaign, hopes to target 
the "disaffected" for support, who she described as those 
without strong tribal and religious ties and who are angered 
by pervasive corruption.  She introduced her campaign 
manager, Mahfoutha al-Sifas, a political activist from 
northern Yemen.  Sifas told Ambassador the story of her last 
foray into politics, when she ran for a parliamentary seat in 
the 2003 elections.  Sifas, running as an independent, was 
ahead of the ruling party's candidate by thousands of votes 
with 10 out of 13 districts counted.  When all the district 
results were counted, however, al-Sifas had somehow lost 
votes from the previous tally and ended up losing to the 
ruling party candidate. 
 
------------------------ 
Free and Fair Elections? 
------------------------ 
 
¶4. (SBU) Ambassador stressed that the USG would watch to see if 
this year's elections are free and fair.  In addition to 
registration and voting, he continued, the campaign process 
itself would also be monitored, stressing the need for free 
public debate of the issues and equal access to the media for 
all candidates.  Raja agreed, adding that because newspapers 
reach only two percent of the population, candidates must 
have access to government-owned radio and television 
stations.  (Note:  The ROYG controls all radio and television 
stations within the country.  End Note). 
 
¶5. (SBU) Raja shared her concerns that elections procedures were 
already being compromised.  One of her primary concerns was 
that children were being registered to vote.  She showed 
Ambassador color copies of voter registration cards for 10 
voters listed as 22 years old, but whose pictures appear to 
be of children well-under the legal voting age of 18.  Raja 
also expressed concern for her own safety.  "I know the 
President," she said, "and he would not condone any violence 
against opposition candidates, but he has lots of supporters 
who like to do him favors." 
 
------- 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶6. (SBU) Raja herself admits that she is a tough sell to the 
Yemeni public.  She has not lived in Yemen for 10 years and 
is divorced from a foreigner.  In fact, any candidate -- male 
or female -- who runs as an independent will find it 
difficult to break into the relatively closed Yemeni 
political system, which is dominated by a handful of powerful 
government officials and tribal leaders.  As she stated, 
however, her campaign could play an important role in 
encouraging public dialogue about corruption and women's 
political participation.  Already, her candidacy has 
encouraged two more women to become presidential candidates. 
Unfortunately, however, Raja's candidacy seems to be 
generating more interest and coverage in the international 
media than the local press, which is consumed at the present 
with the larger issues of fraud that Raja has also raised. 
 
¶7. (SBU) Post will follow-up on the accusations of fraudulent 
registration with the Supreme Commission on Elections and 
Referendum (SCER) as well as the National Democratic 
Institute, which is planning to monitor the September 
elections, and which is providing support to the SCER to 
update its voter registration rolls, specifically to 
 
SANAA 00001116  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
CORRECTED COPY FOR PARAGRAPH MARKINGS 
 
eliminate underage voters. 
Krajeski